By BILL BARLOW/Special to the Sentinel
OCEAN CITY — City Council unanimously approved a $215,300 contract with ACT Engineers to design a new flood-mitigation project for the Merion Park and Four Seasons area, the latest step in a long-term, multimillion-dollar effort to reduce flooding island-wide.
The vote came at an afternoon meeting held Monday, Dec. 28. Members of City Council gathered in the senior center, a room large enough to allow for distance between members, while Mayor Jay Gillian and other administration officials participated from City Hall. Members of the public could log into the meeting remotely.
That’s what city resident Donna Moore did when she raised questions about the contract during the public comment portion of the meeting. Specifically, she questioned the inclusion of $17,000 for “public involvement.”
She asked that the resolution be removed from the consent agenda for further discussion. City Council typically votes on most resolutions in a single motion, with the idea that routine matters do not need to be discussed individually.
Moore argued that the administration will have all of the information that ACT has gathered, “and our administration can convey that to our citizens. There’s no need to repay ACT Engineers for a retelling of this information to our citizens. We can save $17,000 there.”
City Business Administrator George Savastano said the contract will cover gathering information from residents and property owners to help in planning the upcoming project.
“That’s not to advise the public on what we’ve done afterward, that’s to include the public in the process,” he said, adding that residents in the neighborhood had asked for a chance to provide input in the planning of upcoming projects.
“I spoke with one of the residents of Merion Park just today and assured him that we would continue with those discussions,” he said.
Something similar was undertaken in the original project in that neighborhood, according to Savastano. He added that the $17,000 is a not-to-exceed number in the contract. It does not mean the firm will spend that much, he said.
Part of the next step in flood prevention in the Merion Park neighborhood will be to keep water from flowing into the neighborhood from across the wetlands during high tides, he said. Pumps stations were installed in the low-lying area several years ago and been described as a big improvement in the neighborhood.
Moore also said the original plan for the area that runs from 29th Street to 33rd Street had included 26th, 27th and 28th streets on Haven Avenue for drainage improvements, but those streets were removed as a cost-saving measure. She suggested there should not be additional projects undertaken in Merion Park until other areas also see improvements.
“I’m requesting that for the benefit of these people who have waited for years that the city also include them before continuing on to address other areas,” she said.
Council members did not agree to amend the project.
“We’ve gone through this proposal in detail. It makes sense. We’ve talked about taking care of the problems that we have with overland flow in Merion Park,” Savastano said. “Right now the pump stations get the water out quicker, but we still have significant problems when the water gets to a certain level.”
The existing pump stations do help move the water from between 26th and 29th streets, he said. What has not yet happened is the replacement of the drainage pipes in that area, which is part of the five-year drainage plan.
The drains have been cleared, he said, and there is a pump installed at 25th Street and Haven Avenue as an interim measure.
Council voted on the resolution, along with 20 other resolutions, as part of the single motion during the brief meeting.
Ocean City has spent millions of dollars on flood-prevention projects in recent years. On Dec. 5, the city outlined plans for $25 million more over the next five years, presented at a virtual town hall meeting in which Carol Beske of ACT Engineers participated. The firm has worked closely with the city on planning drainage projects, as well as on other projects including efforts to clear silt from city lagoons.
The work so far has included installing multiple pump stations to move water off the streets faster. Gillian said he intends to improve flood-prevention measures throughout the island, and then continue projects to maintain the infrastructure.
The contract approved Monday includes $15,000 for project management, with the largest portion of the outlined costs going to engineering and design. The resolution indicates that ACT has already completed some of the work, including surveys of the project area.
Also at the meeting, council approved advertising for bids for a new restroom facility on the boardwalk at 11th Street.
“It has become evident that there is a need for these facilities, especially over the summer seasons when the population of the town increases dramatically,” reads a Dec. 9 letter from Vince Bekier, the city director of operations and engineering, a copy of which was included in the informational packet for the meeting.
Council also approved the purchase of uniforms for police and firefighters from Action Uniform Co. of Egg Harbor Township, at an estimated cost of $54,000 for the year.
City Council members wished their constituents a happy new year. Council president Bob Barr said it’s been an unusual year, and one that will end on an unusual note without the events of First Night and the annual First Day dip in the ocean Jan. 1. He hoped for a better year in 2021.
Councilman Michael DeVlieger praised the efforts that kept the annual Christmas dinner at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church going during the pandemic. The event is usually a community gathering but this year was a take-out affair, with masked volunteers handing out the free meals Friday afternoon.